Federer dominates Murray to win fifth straight U.S. Open title

Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerRoger Federer falls to the court in celebration Monday after winning his fifth straight championship at the U.S. Open.

Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerAndy Murray waits for the awards presentation after losing in straight sets to Roger Federer in the U.S. Open men's final Monday.

NEW YORK -- After a significant detour but not a derailment, Roger Federer has pulled his train back onto history's express tracks.

Questions about his fading genius, concern for his future legacy and worries about his health have all been resolved the past two weeks, culminating in a performance Monday that puts fuel back into Federer's high-performance engine.

Indeed, the old Roger Federer has returned. And in his pursuit of all-time greatness, inevitability has broken back against uncertainty.

The great Swiss Master outclassed No. 6 Andy Murray, 6-2, 7-5, 6-2, in less than two hours to win his fifth consecutive U.S. Open and his 13th major title overall, which leaves him one shy of Pete Sampras' record of 14.

"One thing's for sure," Federer declared on court afterward. "I'm not going to stop at 13. That would be terrible."

Thirteen was elusive, though. Federer had to wait 12 months and an extra day because of rain on Saturday, but he finally passed Roy Emerson on the all-time Grand Slam list, and became the first player to win five U.S. championships in a row since Bill Tilden won six straight in long white pants from 1920-25.

Federer also became the only player to win five straight U.S. Opens and five straight Wimbledons.

"It's nice to compare five Wimbledons with five U.S. Opens," Federer said. "Not many guys -- well, nobody can do that."

div class="photo-center large">Chris Faytok/The Star-LedgerRoger Federer comes to the net for a smash against Andy Murray during the men's singles final at the U.S. Open Monday.

But mostly, by winning Monday in the last major tournament of the season, he avoided the shock of being shut out of a major title -- which would have been the first time since he began his remarkable run at Wimbledon in 2003.

His 12th Grand Slam title was at the U.S. Open a year ago, but for the past eight months, when he was losing to also-rans in early rounds of tournaments and ultimately relinquished his No. 1 ranking to Rafael Nadal, many started to wonder if he had finally reached his limit at age 27.

A bout with mononucleosis before the Australian Open may have been the culprit. While still undiagnosed, Federer lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals in Melbourne. He seemed to have recovered a bit before the French Open, but was wiped away by Nadal in the final. Although he played better leading up to the Wimbledon final, he lost that by a sliver to Nadal in an epic match.

"Semis and finals don't help me a whole lot anymore in my career," he said. "It's all about the wins, and that's why this is huge. This is massive, really. I'm very happy about this Grand Slam, obviously. It's a different type of flavor to me, no doubt."

After Wimbledon Federer suffered more disappointing losses over the summer hardcourt season, including a stunning loss to James Blake in the Olympic quarterfinals. But he remained in Beijing, and along with Swiss teammate Stanislas Wawrinka, he won the doubles and seemed to find new joy -- and old confidence -- in his game.

Federer said the doubles experience may have led directly to this title, and the resurrection of his dominant career.

"I think that's what really made the big difference," he said. "If I wouldn't have played doubles at the Olympics, I would have come here with three sort of tough losses. But with the Olympic gold in doubles, it really sort of made me forget about it and just come in here and enjoy this tournament."

So at the end of the Grand Slam season, Federer's record in the major tournaments stands at one title, two other finals and another semifinal appearance. Not too shabby, at all.

Federer finally secured the trophy with an overhead smash that was as easy as the whole match. While waiting for a desperate lob to land, Federer twirled his racket in his hand and licked his chops, then tomahawked the ball into the court for good, slamming away all those doubts with it.

Chris Faytok/The Star-LedgerAndy Murray returns a shot to Roger Federer during the Men's singles final at the U.S. Open Monday.

Murray, who defeated Nadal over two days in the rain-delayed semifinal, was not among those who shared the concerns. As he shook Federer's hand at the net, the Scotsman noted that Federer's year was clearly not the failure some saw.

"Making the semis of Australia, final of the French, the final at Wimbledon, playing one of the best matches of all time, winning a gold medal, and obviously winning the U.S. Open," Murray said.

"I told him he had a phenomenal year, regardless of what anyone said. I had a lot of respect for him, and that was it."

Poor Murray. From the beginning it was clear Federer was going to crush him on this day, and Nadal probably would have gone down, as well. Murray, perhaps overwhelmed by the moment, did not play well at all and Federer took the first set in 27 minutes, breaking Murray at 2-2 and winning the next three games with ease.

Murray showed some pride in the second set, answering a Federer break with one of his own. But at 6-5 the champ broke at love with a classic Federer forehand topspin approach shot on the line to take the second set.

Even though the fans were now supporting Murray, if only to see more tennis, it was just a matter of time. Murray fell behind 5-0 in the third set before winning a couple of token games.

Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerRoger Federer waves to the crowd as he holds the championship trophy after winning his fifth straight U.S. Open men's championship Monday.

After the winning overhead smash that Murray hit back into the net, Federer dropped to his knees, rolled onto his back, then looked up to his box at his parents and girlfriend, and yelled in triumph. The PA system played the old Orleans tune "Still the One."

Maybe he's not in Sydney, Paris or London, but here in New York Federer is definitely still the one -- five times over.

"I felt like I was invincible for a while again," Federer said. "That's exactly how you want to finish a tournament."